Otsukaresama. Learning by Doing, Remembering by Feeling. A New Approach to Shibori. =

The project aims to study and interconnect traditional Japanese arts and crafts with the methodology of Open Design. This country’s choice was rooted in a personal interest in Japanese culture since childhood. Thanks to this passion the research is focused on heritage, learning more about history and bringing value to the culture that has begun to be popular around the world, also linked to pop, not only the traditional, which was at the beginning of the opening of Japan to the world. Through a deep research into Japanese heritage, it was possible to understand in a systemic view which elements characterise Shibori, one of the traditional craftmanship present in Japan, specifically in Kyoto. Shibori is a manual resist-dyeing technique that was born and developed in Kyoto, Japan’s capital city of arts and crafts. The technique is very manual and requires practice and learning the connections that have with tradition, material and the generation of workers. The elements of Shibori’s background are combined and studied with the principles of open design, which is not a mere digital strategy but a participatory and ethical design method that can foster accessibility, co-creation, cultural continuity, and collaboration. Through interviews and focused research in many institutions in Kyoto, such as the Kyoto Shibori museum, it was clear that the core elements have a lot of value and the fragility of this kind of craft. Combining those studies, the research culminates in a creative project that applies open design methods to folding-based Shibori methods, putting it in a contemporary design context to share knowledge, value, and community, not just as a textile artefact. This project proposes to put innovation, transformation, and preservation on the same side, which will become forces in sustaining the sharing of Shibori.